


a gentle descent

by Nagiru



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: (I never thought I'd use THAT tag but here we are!), Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Other, but it's still fluff!, just... some fluff, look. this is just some winter fluff., that isn't even all that romantic, there's no plot. no real context
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:29:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24617608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nagiru/pseuds/Nagiru
Summary: The Doctor is unable to travel peacefully even once, no matter how much she tries to. When it isn't an alien invasion, it's the Master... who is enough trouble by himself.
Relationships: The Doctor & The Master (Doctor Who), Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	a gentle descent

**Author's Note:**

> Um, so. As I mentioned in the tags, this was first posted on my tumblr (which... isn't something I ever expected to say, because it - my tumblr, I mean - has been abandoned for SO LONG? And I still barely use it, as it is, so...), as an answer to a prompt. [You can see it here, if you want to.](https://nagiru.tumblr.com/post/620407090018762752/92-with-13dhawan-think-its-only-right-to-pay)
> 
> Ok, that aside... this was supposed to be a drabble, seriously. Which is the reason why there's no context AT ALL to this. But... well. I guess it grew a bit. Not enough to prompt a plot or even context, but enough to almost reach 1,3k words. So... yay?  
> But, seriously, for the context... best I can give you is "somewhen after S12, in an AU where the Doctor and the Master have returned to their usual relationship, instead of being so damn angry at each other" (aka, they are back to petty, childish rivalry... which can occasionally involve the murder of innocents, but usually nothing so personal as burning down their own people as revenge for the torture of the other... er. yeah. Think more 12 & Missy and less 13 & D!Master, I guess)
> 
> Look, the prompt was "I can't believe I'm snowed in. With _you_." with 13/D!Master, but. But back in December, before my laptop stopped working in the middle of it, I planned on writing a Winter Special for **a rhapsody for you and me** , and there was gonna be... part of this scene. And I really wanted to use it here, given the opportunity, so... I guess... it's less of being snowed in, and more of disasters in a snowy planet with those two. Oops.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this!!! :)  
>  **Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Doctor Who and characters. I wrote this story simply to entertain myself (and whoever wants to read it). And as a belated birthday gift to myself, because I deserve some fluff.

She didn’t really plan anything for that day. She was just passing the time in between adventures, unwilling to spend time with other people who might _care_ but just as unwilling to be alone with her own thoughts, and she had thought that, well, maybe she deserved a holiday. A nice trip to a relaxing place. Just sight-seeing for once.

She definitely hadn’t planned on stumbling upon _the Master_.

Still. It shouldn’t stop her, right? _Right?_

“Doctor! What a pleasant surprise!” _Ugh_. She didn’t want to look at him. She was _sure_ he was smirking at her. It was in his voice, clear as crystal…

She turned anyway. She couldn’t quite pretend not to have seen him when he already tried to catch her attention, could she? “Master.” _Oh, he was definitely smirking. Bastard._ “Here to overthrow the current government? Burn a couple villages? Murder a third of the population?”

He didn’t even blink at her sarcasm, of course he didn’t. “Heard the slope here is supposed to be the hardest place to slide down on this side of the universe.”

… _she_ hadn’t known that. How hadn’t she known that?

But, if _the Master_ was interested in it, it had to be hard indeed. Perhaps someone had even died there. Would explain his knowledge…

… but she wouldn’t engage him in this. She was trying to think and have a peaceful day off. She _wasn’t_ going to enter in some… some petty dispute or something. He wanted to get himself killed, she’d allow him.

His smirk spread just a tad, his eyes all _knowing_ , and she hated him _so much_ , especially because they both knew he’d won the moment he’d opened his mouth.

“Where is this slope?”

He chuckled just a bit, and she hated him, but. By Omega, had she _missed him_.

**.**

“I should _never_ have allowed you to touch the slide,” the Master complained, shaking snow out of his hair. It didn’t help much, in the Doctor’s opinion. He was still covered in snow from head to toe anyway. Really, the only thing he managed with that was to toss even more snow on _her_. “You still don’t know how to fly your TARDIS, why did I think this would be any different?”

She huffed, tossing her extra scarf at him. At least _she_ had had the forethought to come to this planet dressed _appropriately_. Besides…

“Not like you were doing any better before I took over!” In fact, she was pretty sure the fall down the cliff had been caused by _both_ of them, despite what he was saying.

“Oh, is that so? I don’t recall us speeding towards a cliff when _I_ was the one guiding the slide.”

“Yeah, because you were speeding us towards all the _trees_ , instead! I avoided the trees entirely!”

“By tossing us down a _cliff_.”

He was really, _really_ insistent on that, wasn’t he?

“It just appeared in the middle of my perfect escape route. And I almost managed to stop us in time, but then _someone_ thought it’d be better if we turned around, _again_ , and…” She waved around. “Here we are.”

He huffed — but he also had her scarf tossed around his neck, and his hands were shoved deep into his pockets, so she thought it might just be the cold making him grumpier than normal. It _was_ remarkably cold in this planet, despite their usual resistance to climates. Maybe she should try and get closer to him? Offer him to share warmth…?

He turned around and started stomping away, and she shook her head. _Nah. Not yet._

**.**

When they returned to the beginning of everything — the Doctor shivering just slightly from the cold wind, and the Master disturbingly quiet in his moodiness —, the Doctor realized there was a _slight_ problem.

She… didn’t want to say anything about it, but the Master took notice of it immediately, of course.

“Where is your TARDIS?”

She cleared her throat, looking away from his face so he wouldn’t notice her grimace. “Well…”

“Doctor. Where is your TARDIS?”

“Look! I’m not seeing yours either, am I?” She answered slightly curter than she had intended to.

Which. Actually was a good point. She looked back at him and had to swallow her glee when she saw him grimacing himself.

“You don’t have her, do you?”

“Oh, stop pointing fingers. Mine could have easily been camouflaged here! Yours, on the other hand, is quite noticeable, and _I don’t see it._ ”

_Ugh_. She looked at the huge pile of snow that hadn’t been there just that morning. The huge pile of snow in front of the nice cave she’d found just that morning.

The huge pile of snow covering the entrance to the cave she… _might_ have parked her TARDIS in.

“Of _course_ ,” the Master said, voice dry as a desert. “Of _course_ , you managed to get us _snowed in_.”

“Well… technically…” She grinned, perking up at his annoyance. “I got _the TARDIS_ snowed in. Or– I mean, _the TARDIS_ got snowed in. I had nothing to do with it, had I? But, yes, _we_ are snowed _out_.”

“We are _snowed in_. In this terrible weather. _Together_.”

She hummed. “Yes. Sounds about right.” She paused with a grin. “Unless, of course, your TARDIS _is_ camouflaged around here, just waiting for you?”

She could have been more helpful than that. She could have told him she had a way to get rid of the excess snow. She could have told him that it _might_ be possible to get her TARDIS to come out of the cave by herself, in a pinch…

But then she wouldn’t be able to see _this_ , she thought with bubbling amusement as the Master groaned and dropped his face into his hands.

“I’m going to _kill you_ , Doctor. One of these days, I’m going to kill you.”

She laughed, leaning forward to pat his head. His hair was… delightfully soft. She hadn’t expected that.

_(lies, she had. He always had the best hair ever. Every single time. It was always just so nice to the touch that she always, without doubt, would find herself thinking of an excuse to touch it, one way or the other. But that **wasn’t the point.** )_

“C’mon, dear,” she teased when he raised his head to glare down at her. “Is that _really_ the worst thing that could happen to us? Being snowed out together?”

He grumbled again… but he also grinned, slowly, and took his time patting _her_ head. It could have been lighter, she decided with a frown, but she’d take it.

She prepared herself to tease him a bit more, maybe give him a poke to the side while at it, when he beat her to the punch.

“Well, at least now I can say without a shred of doubt that you _absolutely_ shouldn’t be allowed to fly your TARDIS.” Then, to add salt to the injury, he had the audacity to _bop her nose_. And when she only gaped, too out of words to answer him, he _smirked and turned his back to her_. The… the _bastard_! “Come along, dear! We have to find a place to warm up, if we’re supposed to wait out this snow.”

Oh, when she _did_ take care of the snow, she was _not_ taking him along. No _way_.

_(she took him along. Grudgingly, and with a lot of complaining, but… well. He was a stupid bastard, but he was also cold and bored and dangerous, and **hers** , and she wasn’t leaving him to freeze or waste to death in this random planet just because he was being himself._

_… dropping him at the nearest planet with a cheerful wave, on the other hand, was absolutely allowed.)_


End file.
